Both Knoxville Basketball Squads suffered losses in their South Central Conference openers last night at Clarke with the girls falling 50-43 and the boys losing 69-34 in games heard live on 95.5 KNIA. The girls started off well, leading 14-8 after one quarter, but Clarke turned up the defense and made things difficult for Knoxville, who grew stagnant moving forward. Emma Dunkin scored 11 points to pace Knoxville while sister Hannah put in ten. The boys game was dominated by the Indians from tip for the final buzzer as Clarke never allowed Knoxville to get into a rhythm. Clarke was able to get inside on Knoxville and contest many Panthers shots from the outside. Coach Troy Pearson told KNIA/KRLS Sports Clarke’s size was a problem for his team.

Pearson: “They’ve got 6/5, 6/6 and 6/4 in the lane, and we got our shot blocked in the lane several times and we grew timid after that.”

Noah Keefer scored seven points to lead Knoxville, who fell to 0-2 and 0-1 in the conference; the girls are now 2-2 and 0-1 in the South Central Conference. The Panthers stay in conference play on Friday with a trip to Chartiton.